July 2019CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM 19know what they need because doing so risks missing important nuances that could have significant impact on the final deal. For instance, if a third party is missing existing SLAs, but the Business Line hasn't been enforcing credits or penalties, this is an excellent opportunity to discuss the underlying issues and update contractual terms to hold the third party, and the Business Line, accountable for meeting expectations and enforcing remedies when service falls short. Create a list of topics or questions that your contracting team should always ask as they are engaged to assist with new engagements or renewals, including cost, risk, data exchanged, relationship health, location of services, use of subcontractors, timeline for the work, etc. This approach ensures important information is not missed and enhances the consistency of support the Business Line receives from your contracting group.4. Leverage Escalation We've all experienced that moment in a negotiation­final agreement is in sight, yet you and the third party are deadlocked on the last few terms. Often, these involve allocation of risk and liability. Getting past this roadblock involves informing the appropriate internal stakeholders and outlining an "escalation path" early on in the negotiation. By doing so, you and the Business Line know which senior level executive will get involved for these tough calls. Sometimes, this means that executive will pick up the phone, call a counterpart at the third party's organization, and attempt to hash it out. Other times, it means the executive will be involved on internal discussions to make decisions about an acceptable compromise or counter-proposal. But the important thing is, the right person is involved, and you identified them early on so as not to waste time later wondering who should escalate. Once you begin to use this approach, it will become easier to identify the right senior executive to get involved. It's a good idea to create an escalation matrix for your organization detailing who to escalate to, for which type of contracts, and when. 5. Coordinate Approvals and SignatureYou've made it­the deal is done, and it's time to sign. But, the Business Line isn't sure who is authorized to sign, or, worse, the signer is out on an extended vacation and unreachable. To avoid such frustrating scenarios, consider creating a signing authority document for your organization that clearly outlines who is authorized to sign what. Authority may be based upon spend, contract term, risks involved, or a combination of all three. A signing authority document enables you and your team communicate (you guessed it­early) with the Business Line about who will need to sign when a contract is final. If there is only one person authorized to sign a certain type of contract or level of spend, consider creating a formal process where they may name a designee to sign in their absence. Formalizing ahead of time avoids headaches and delay later. Lastly, consider implementing an e-signature process if your organization and contracts will allow for electronic signatures. Many organizations are heading in this direction, and for good reason. Derek GruberConnect Business Lines with appropriate resources early
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